The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1887-07-29

Text of Attorney General GarIand's Opin-
ion on the New Alien Act-The Rights of
Aliens Holding Stock in Corporations.
WASHINGTON, July 23.-The following IS
the text of the Attorney-ge generals opinion
with regard to the act to restrict owner
ship of real estate in the Territories to
American citizens:
To the President:
DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, WASHINGTON, May
20-A reply to your inquiries must be derived
from an Interpretation of the act of March en-
titled IAN act to restrict the ownership Of real
estate in the Territories TO American citizens,
and forth" The inquiries are: First, was
the act intended to apply and does it apply to
mines; second, can aliens lawfully acquire, own
and hold shares OF stock issued by an American
corporation which is the owner cf mineral lands
in the Territories; third, would the advance
ment of money by aliens for the purpose Of
developing mining property be lawful under the
act; fourth, aliens lawfully contract with
American owners for working mines or making
any proper use of mineral lands for term of
years.
The first section of the act forbids aliens who
have not declared their intention to become citi-
zens of the United States and alien corpora
tions ito hereafter acquire, hold or own real
estate SO hereafter acquired or any interest
therein in the Territories of the United States
or in the District OF Columbia" except in the
cases enumerated in the exception and proviso
to the section. The second section forbids the
operating, holding or owning of such real estate
hereafter acquired by any corporation or asso
stock is owned by persons, corporations or asso-
Citations not citizens of the United States.
The third section forbids corporations other
than railway, canal or turnpike companies to
hereafter acquire, hold or own more than 5000
acres of land hereafter acquired, and limits
railway, canal and turnpike companies in their
acquisition to such lands as may be necessary
to the proper operation of their roads, canals
and turnpikes. The fourth section provides for
forfeiture of the property for violations of the
provisions Of the act.
The property forbidden to be acquired, held
or owned in the first section is real estate or
any interest therein" The term real estate
| is very comprehensive. 1t includes lands and
every estate that may be inherited which is
annexed, arises out Of or is eXercisable therein.
| This term embraces agricultural mineral,
| desert and timber lands and town sites alike.
| The phrase ''any interest therein" is some
/ what ambiguous. 1t might bear the con-
| struction that a lease for years is an
interest in land and land is real estate, there
! fore lease for years is interest in real es-
/ tate. 1t admits of another construction, viz:
! That the words ''any interest therein" must
! fer to an interest in real estate; that lease
/ for years on any estate less than a freehold in
land is not real estate, but chattel real and is
! so known in law; that the word therein
| refers to what in law is known as real estate,
and as a lease for years is not so known it does
| not include lease. In this view OF the act the
! term would signify any proportionate part
/ interest in what is known in law real prop
| erty which as such would pass at the death of
/ the ancestor to the heir and not to the admins
/ TRAITOR or executor.
1t was not the purpose of the law to change
| the policy of the Government to such extent
| as to exclude immigration and forbid to
| alien even lawful temporary residence in the
| Territories OF the Government, and the District
/ of Columbia. Yet the first construction sug
! gested would effect that result. Under it the
! owner of property in the District of Columbia
| could not lawfully lease, even for month,
! dwelling to one not citizen The alien emf
| grant to the Territories who had hoped and in
! tended, a citizen in the future to make his
/ home there, could not lawfully obtain build
i ing in which to shelter his family. Such con-
! siderations as these enforce the view that the
latter construction is in accordance with the in
ent of the legislatio and that bona fide leases,
are not intended to come within the inhibition
| Of the act.
/ The exception to the first section relieves
| from its provisions such real estate or interest
therein may be acquired in the ordinary
course of justice in the collection Of debts con-
tracted before the passage of the act; but those
provisions attach with full force to debts con-
/ tracted since its passage.
/ The expression in the second section ''no cor
poration shall hereafter acquire or hold or own
any real estate hereafter acqnired'' relates to
! all future operations of any corporation in real
estate, in the Territories or District of Colum-
| bia 1t does not divert any rights now existing
nor preclude American corporations from hold
/ ing real estate now owned by them even al
though more than 20 per cent Of their
| stock may be owned by other than citi-
| zens, but in case more than twenty per cent.
of their stock now is or at any future time
| should be held and owned by others not citizens
| or American corporations, while such per cent.
of stock is so held and owned no further acquisi-
tion can be made of real estate by any such cor
| poratiOn. The act does not deny the right of
| American owners to borrow money from aliens;
nor to secure such loans real estate, but in
| the event of a sale on a future loan the alien
| creditor could not at such sale become a pur-
| chaser
therefore repIy to the fno uiries submitted as
| follows: First AS to mines and real estate
| inheritable interest in real estate the act does
not apply to them. Second. AS stock in a corpora
| tion is personal alien can lawfully have, own
and hold such stock issued by an American cor
poration which is now the owner of mineral
lands in Territories, but IL the holding by
aliens exceeds 20 per cent. such corporation
can neither acquire, hold own nor hereafter
| quire real estate, while more than 20 per cent.
| of stock is held and owned by aliens. Third. I'm
| der The act the advancement Of money hereafter
by aliens for the purpose Of developing mining
| property is lawful, but interest in the real
| estate can be acquired by such advancement
| nor would any alien have the right to purchase
| the real estate, nor any interest therein
| loan made since the passage of the act even II
sold on his own security or lien. Fourth, Aliens
| may lawfully contract with American owners
| to work mines by personal contracts for hire,
| or by bona hde leases, for reasonable time.
| am, sir, with respect
| A. II. GARLAND Attorney General.